Return to Siberia

First day in and as reported to me yesterday by Helen the heating groundfloor Reggie is still knackered. Worse than that the penguin family that are inhabiting the library right now seem to have invited a nuclear outfit of polar bears to join them. If a Walrus moves in too then I'm off.

Wake late so car to South Parkway and then train to Reggie. No sign of the Ushanka.

The heating (or lack of... if you prefer) engineers appeal to us to let them do some welding. We're up for it, we could crowd round and get some heat and apparently it's needed to complete the heating repair. A risk assessment holds it up. The suggestion that the risk assessment should read, welder = sparks = fire risk = be wary when you do it ain't good enough. Fairy Nuff. The Walrus may arrive anytime tomorrow. We arrange for everyone else to be elsewhere while I hold the fort. With any luck the heating will be fixed tonight and I'll be in a version of the tropics..... Not gonna put the 'Toucan perch available' sign up just yet.

Work wise, a tickle from the pre-crimbo sexual health gig we did (how can you compete with a Durex stand?) brings work and cold cure advice that matches my usual advice (currently being put into practice with some Bushmill's 1608). The folk at Halton sort some stuff for me as a result. Do a little blog wrangling. FoI is busy. Chat to the Queen of Mortality (usual sick level of conversation which amuses the pair of us) who helps me sort a nice man from the Beeb. Sorts the request. MEN raise their head above the parapet and the Liberals get in on the act to. Some blog advice to Sue. Chat to the other end of the St Halton gig too. So good to chat to some fine folk while sorting stuff.

Meanwhile back at home Monst sorts the decs and does a stunning clean up job on downstairs just leaving the kitchen to me. Shove on some Seasick Steve and sort it.

Chickentown and Clutches

Into Reggie and the phone leads me to Evidently Chickentown.

Monst calls me. Chickentown calls me. Monst is upset as I fling a blogging gig Tracy's way and apparently ignore her down the phone. Scab a tenner off the poor unfortunate Nicola because I haven't a bean on me and the wallet is at home. I'm told it's down to fog in Brizzle, and the arm flapping ain't happening. I arrive marginally early following a stressed up drive. Fog has lifted by curtain up. I return towards the Mersey, scab a free parking situation as the machine refuses to eat the money borrowed from Nicola (makes it easy to give it back mind!) and get to the Rocket and conduct an experiment in non-laxative, laxative impact as I break down at the Rocket. Not a good spot to be in, with a huge artic right behind you (I'd say up the jacksie but despite the fact I'm often called to vocalise with it, it ain't that big - honest!). Call the RAC. They come, looks like my clutch is going, 'Ooh! Er...Missus'. Dysfuntional in the afternoon as a result. Ring garages an relieved that the some demanded is not as bad as I imagine!

Sc

FoI, DPA, searching, errors, slow network, RSS hassles, the whole shebang seems to be giving me grief right now. Fling in the dead Archos that requires a visit to Curry's where I witness bad A-level fallout (been there, done that, went to Northern Ireland - best thing I coulda done). Some side effects from yesterday's training session. Ring Katherine about that. Search issue is that acute I remember the thing in question and run it at home!

Home via supermarket, don't see any abominable snowmen down by the peas and carrots. Bit disappointed by that but I do gather the required ginger but avoid the beer.

Day

A day in the library on my tod in which I learn much goss that shall remain off blog. Couple of training sessions with both flavours of gender. Phone call from a confused Ken from Printing.com who I'll visit tomorrow. Couple of FoI resolutions. Heap of good sounds.

Home, Ying Wah then do battle with the cat's claws. Get scratched and bitten for my troubles. Poor Katie Cat ain't happy. Play with the excellent Tagcrowd. send a link to it to some coms and marketing folk I know and like. Check Arseblog and then relax.

Er.....

OK so the Big Contacts experiment is interesting. Spin offs include a Refgrunt blog. FoI and DPA go a little mental. Keeps me on top of some task management. Not certain that makes me more productive but does seem to be more systematic. Sales Pipeline? Need to think how that makes sense.

Wiki stuff goes on.

Progress on the mission to provide intelligent booklists. I ring Softlink, speak to the ever helpful Hannah, send some files down and she purges our Main Subject database allowing us to build a lighter more practical version. Time spent an hour or so. Difficulty, none, just a bit of FTP'ing. Why didn't I do it sooner? Aaaargh!

She did conceal him with her quick arms

Begin scribbling a manual on My Library the personalisation tool from NLH. Utilise the whole wiki gig because it needs to develop beyond the stuff I scribble. Plan more of that stuff. Sort KSF outlines with Tracy. Spend bits of the rest of the day chatting FoI with a variety of NHS folk, lawyers and doing some pro-TDAG messaging.

Giggle at myself as an eejit as I send out yesterdays news instead of todays. So all my celebrations of that were based on me being a fool. Still if you can't laugh at yerself who can you laugh at. As my old grandmother used to tell me with monotonous alzheimers timed regularity 'If there weren't no fools boy, there wouldn't be no fun!' That 'If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined' are my mantras.

Monst is out on the lash tonight with work, so Cal and I munch pizza and watch Dr Who. Quite a fun boy's night in then! Apprentice, some bizarre thing on body image and then blog.

Krazy

Wednesday

Superstitions bite today, I see a single Magpie, salute the thing but the rest of the drive to work I'm searching for the things. Obviously the word went out so they all hid. All of this is stoopid but right now I feel sufficiently vulnerable for me to take on board this sort of tosh.

FoI day, meeting about an e-newsletter with the nursing folk. I crash it, it's really Helen's baby and the work she laid down makes the thing easy to handle in her absence.

In support of Shan we go to an AGM at the Everyman. Freaky gig, quite enjoyed it and nice to see a few people. Nice venue.

Back at Reggie and it's time to finish the redactions. Home and sleep.

Thursday

The malevolent Magpie is there again. Nice mail from Shan which is much appreciated.

Physios, go to see the community physios. Prepared as ever the presentation is sorted last minute, dash down to Bridge Chapel. Fun bunch, lively, asked some good questions. I enjoyed it and was bang on time wise without much effort.

Back, dash out more FoI stuff. Then off for the boy's review at Northern. Nice bunch of people, think it goes well and I like the folk from the new school. Finish off with the flicks and a meal.

More Comebacks than Gary Glitter!

First day in a while I've felt like blogging and I do so with a fair amount of paranoia on side. On the plus side I'm reading through the whole of this thing and performing the blog equivilent of some ethnic cleaning. As a result I think when it's all done it should be somewhere towards the draft bloggers code. Probably a good thing long term. Does raise a few on blog/off blog issues. Clearly in may respects I've discovered the Voltaire sanction ("I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it") is something that maybe only I live with and believe in.

Anyway, Friday was dreadful, thoroughly depressed. Saturday morning was equally bad until a trip to the No Mercy where I met B. Bought the boy a book to record spells in (well that's what he told me). Good to see B. and the few minutes conversation reassured me that all wasn't as dark as I thought. Still more than a little depressed to the extent I don't go near the news or stuff I'd usually get done. The result is that I'm behind on everything this week. Paranoia strikes big time, it's all my fault that Spurs equlised, I didn't turn the radio off in time. Sunday I was a little more cheery but not much more. Receive an email from an old friend which was incredibly welcome. Replied and it geave me some sort of outlet.

Monday and I'm reminded why I do what I do for a living. A day when many of my fave readers pass through the email or library. Some good humour directed my way which is well received. Reflect on the fragility of confidence I have in myself. Suspect few people I know would realise its there unless they read this thing enough to read between the lines. Much welcome support within the crew. Increased by Tuesday. They're a good bunch but I knew that anyway.

Tuesday and open forum, revealing and requires some thought around our priorities and matching them to the organsations. Gain goss from elsewhere in the place that is useful soft intelligence. See some good folk and generally do the networking thing principally with JH. FoI work comes in thick and fast. Four requests today, 2 straightforward, 2 pigs (1 involves a visit upstairs that results ina bit of a greylit hunt along the way, other means a few days need to be spent up Norf!). Invite to add some stuff to a West Midlands e-learning resource. Irony seems strong right now!

Got to ask does any of this make sense now? Seems to lack a certain honesty to me.

Hello Mr Lizard Man

Wake early, don't want to disturb the folks so make minor adjustments to my packing (shove in a few more books), record the final disc of Shoebox Zoo on the Archos. Now for the mad panic, the quiet time after the mad panic, the boredom of hanging around waiting to travel. We leave Lime Street for Heathrow via Euston, a black cab, Paddington at 1.00.

Hello Mr Easter Bunny

My habit on arrival at work if I'm in early enough is to take the Notpod and crank out some chunes.... locals are used to it but it is always unusual when strangers stumble into the library as it goes on. A couple of suavy surgeons on their way upstairs nip in as the very chilled and lovely Richard Butler and cuningly titled album 'Richard Butler' is on. Explain what we do, why we do it, the big question they ask is will the money spent on the Shipman Enquiry make a blind bit of difference? Depressingly I suspect the answer is, no! Don't usually deal with surgery folk these days so it made a change, reminded me what I like about the stuff I do now....

Tracy calls, she ain't well. Get well soon. Back to the news and FoI I go.

Act as the Easter Bunny, dropping eggs to people. Quick bit of training in the afternoon with a DN from St Helen's who was in search of grey lit and delighted to find none! She's doing a systematic review and really aimed to cover the bases but was hoping that there was nothing to find. Glad I could oblige. Big up Katherine while she's in, dump a load of cards on her for her to share with her DN mates.

Homeward bound and the big tidy up before going away. It's the thing I hate about holidays, you pack, you tidy up, you run around daft. Still all is charged, all is packed, all is almost clean. Still on the plus side the ultimate in laziness, a curry delivered, but the forgot the rice....curses.

A Skull, A Suitcase and What Happpened to the Long Red Bottle of Wine

A day of sorting or avoiding sorting things FoI out. A few searches for speech and language therapy along the way.

Finally start the edit of the stuff we did at Faz the other day. Get sent out for easter eggs. Meant to be cleaning the house but I'm too knackered. A friday night blitz looms. Fetch a copy of 'Happy Feet' for the boy as I get the eggs.

Wednesday no Sheffield

Draft some guidance on an FoI request I've yet to see. Need to scribble a model initial response. Freaky, also recieve some crap from a stalker. Refuse to respond immediately it needs reflection. News. Dash out the door, need to spend more time with Helen because I answer a query in a frantic hurry as I dash out the door and she deserves more.

Back to the Land of Manc for the afternoon. PCT Librarians which is always a delight because it's a bunch of good folk. So off I toddle to South Parkway, return to Gateway House, meet Beryl on the way in. Subject of the sesh is the proposed Primary Care Hub on NLH. Makes sense to me, it's coould be the Primary Care shelf of said gaff.....

Home, feed the family and then a monster sesh of Disney themed 'Clue' or Cluedo as those of us this side of the pond know it. Bit odd, but Cal played well and it was a fun family time of jolly japes and deep joy.

The Turn-ups in Johnnie Fingers' Pyjama Bottoms

The Geldof Sanction applies, 'I Hate Mondays'. Actually this isn't strictly true, what I hate is the fact I'm always chasing my tail on a Monday because the day starts late because Cal has to be got to school. Throw into the mix that today I had a collections management meeting, a call from the person for whom I drop things (less demanding today a pm response required.

Meeting is cool but raises a few issues from the GM asking about the number of groups that are going on. A case of not invented here I feel. They're always welcome over anytime they fancy, its one of the advantages of being in the more loose, bohemian, anarchic part of the region.

Return to a message from Mildred which tells me FoI has reared its ugly head. Confess later to Helen much as it can be a drag its a skill set I'd be loathe to lose. Contact her turns out some mails have gone astray (their mail list is as bad as ours!) Arrange to go over tomorrow to see her. This necessitates a trip to Portia which allows me to show Tracy where her Performance Management training is, to take a trip round the latest developments of the Big Dig (Liverpudlian humour on the part of the City Council I guess, they can't call it [insert your own expletive of choice] roadworks). So off to the Land of Manc I trot twice this week. Discover the postcard bid was successful so need to draft a design brief in a hurry.....

So home and food via the supermarket twice, once for salad and the second time to retrieve a finger bandage to dress the cat's paw (well Monst did that as head nurse round here, I'd be shagging useless at that sort of caper, my job is to hold the poor wee beastie and intercept any sharp teeth heading in Monst's direction). Then take Monst to work, deposit the boy into bed, blog and relax with some music (Jilted John's 'Jilted John' origin of the beginnings of training sessions 'Here we go 2-3-4' and some other stuff from that sort of time). Gently relax, should do some work but can't be arsed, no doubt I'll pay for that attitude tomorrow when again I get to chase my tail.....

She's Got Eye's Like Pissholes in the Snow

It's Friday and I'm in Love....Er....Perhaps Not....

Go over to NHS Blog Doctor to see the nightmare of MTAS unfolding, today it visits me as the fallout comes my way in terms of DPA requests. Keeps me off the streets I suppose! Also keeps me away from doing library things but these requests aren't alone in that. It's been one of them days. Nice thanks from the person I sorted the other day with an FoI response which is nice (don't often get thanks as a result of FoI). Chat to an OT who wants to put in a request from over in the Land of Manc.

Library wise it's a positive day in a way, I deal with the galloping pharmacist of what was Norf', he's a star and nice to sort. Kinda get the promise of some Antimicrobial guidelines that have gone missing in action in the way that only Grey Lit can. Send some stuff to one of the good guys in unplanned care. Highlight of the day of course though is Dave nipping in. Very good to see him and nice that we can do our bit to support him. He even brings us a model Vespa from his Italian Trip (library convention begun by former Faders Sally and Christina is that if you go anyhere you bring back a mode of transport for the shelf top).

Home and I get the delights of food from the Ying Wah, the sounds of Jack Hayter ('Practical Wireless' and very fine it is too). Sort photos for Monst of her trip with the boy to India. Blog and generally chill and try and avoid the fact that right now I'm missing beer. The coffee seems to be going OK though.

Hatch a cunning tidying plan for the house, bet I don't keep to it though.

Fursday KSF Fun and Other Stories

Begin the day getting as much news down my throat as possible given that I was a lazy toe rag and not up 'til 7. Tracy saves the day and picks up where I had to leave off. Then it's off to the first part of some performance management training which should give me the keys to the e-KSF door which is essention for some library staff redesign that is overdue. LDB were meant to let us know when the training was on instead it was our Comms team that did by of all things communicating - can you imagine that.

Head to town, plan is to dump the car in the most spiritual carpark in town (under Paddy's Wigwam) but today it's only season tickets so presumably the Bish is having a bash upstairs. Result is I end up in the Max Escher on Mount Pleasant. Call Tracy for directions and find the gaff down in the Jacobite unfriendly quarter of town (Hanover Street, Duke Street, Argyle Street, still looking for Stab the Jock Street....) Therein I find one Elaine G. and Peter H. Cool, shoot the breeze, sup some bloody awful tea. Training is good, but that's not suprising it's Elaine that's running it and she's always good. Lunch and Tom and Sean from Dave B's crew introduce us to the perils of the e-KSF. Wow, that was hard.....not! Still I come way realising how much we still have to do.

Away home to feed the family and collapse into bed early via a bath that was too hot and the beginnings of 'Porno'.

Five and Dime

Sometimes something suprises me. Today it was a query which I was convinced I wouldn't be able to satisfy. I rang the requestor, told him as much but that I'd try. This involved chasing poor Joe M. into a carpark! Thing is we hold the information requested. Cool, I have the name of the person behind it. I ring the Land of Manc, there is a palpable air of mystery about the place, nobody knows the number I want. I catch Pete who gives me the number of someone who might know. This person has doesn't know either but gives me a number elsewhere out of the Land of Manc toward the Land of the Lakes but down a bit. It's not the number I want but might be someone who knows the number I need. Thankfully they do and I get not one but two numbers out of them. I eventually get to speak to the person I need to speak to, they have the information, an hour later it is in my grasp and on its way to the requestor who can now go on TV and speak with facts. I'm impressed with the help I got along the way, it was all helpful and the person I spoke to in the end was extremely helpful and incredibly pleasant, but a tortuous route to the end of the tale. This is the new NHS a place where corporate memory has been replaced by corporte rumour and guess work. Thankfully it wasn't the PCT!

End of Feb and March beckons, oddly enough we don't seem to have caught up with the financial situation in the rest of the NHS, there is even the rumour of money. This means the rapid pulling together of bids. Bet nobody (I include myself in this) expected that.

Nicola introduces me to nettle tea. It wasn't as bad as I suspected. It's meant to be good for me too!

Arsenal play Blackburn in the cup. It ain't exciting. Nil - Nil at half time.

Reminder to self, Helen is developing some interesting CAS ideas that we need to explore fully. Improvements on stuff we've done in the past maybe with the odd nice twist.

Next Time I Get Asked About NHS Structure.... from the Telegraph - best structure graphic I've seen in a while

Arthur is Invisible

Monday

How I hate the fact that Nonsense on a Monday doesn't let me near my Google Spreadsheets defining them as "Personal Network Storage and Backup". I'd contact the Grand Imperial Wizard of Websense to say enough is enough but I know tomorrow when Nonsense has had a day of being stern and evil, all will be well with it. I also know that the response will be do the thing I want to do using excel, and I know that kinda makessense but I want it to be as open and transparent as possible and not sat on my machine (it's a bid by the way!).

I admit it I'm temporally challenged, we had an information cadet in today, very pleasant young man. Came as a suprise to me, not because I didn't know he was coming but because I have it logged for this day next month. Throw into that a meeting I attended the other day was in the diary for next month too and it's clear I need to talk to Dr. Who.

Where are the missing HSJs? Not where they should be and this leads me to an FoI request, easily dealt with though. Bit of a boob job that leads me to chat to commissioners locally to solve a regional mystery. Amazing what people want to know these days.

Home, catch up with 'Life on Mars' listen to 'Rite', 'Kilimanjaro' and generally relax with a phone call to the folks.

Sunday

Carling Cup Final day and apart from a bit of shopping involving a chase for a pesky book on Mexico that sees an unforseen trip to town because it wasn't on the shelf at Borders I devote most of the day to the Cup Final. If they'd have had 'It's a Carling Cup Final Sandwich Spread' I'd have been listening to it on the radio. No TV for me, we don't pay for the sport channels! Why the interest? I like Wenger's team selection, I admire the way they played and the handbags at the end was a pity but has been blown out of all proportion. The thing that confused me was the celery. What was that all about?

Monst to work and catch up on the weekend news.

Saturday

Wish the old fella a happy birthday. Rest of it involved being told my lentern task of being off the beer equals being off the booze. Not keen on that, it makes me want to drink, better to leave things where I don't drink simply because I don't fancy it and use the cider alternative as required. Evil Monst!

Friday

A bit of a blur, can't remember much of the morning but headed into 'Injun' Territory' to deliver some training up near Chorley. A bit of above and beyod but an interesting experience and the value of PICO shown loud and proud. Downside was getting back home, feeding the family and getting out of the door to drop Monst at work.

Training

Back to work today with a Pubmed training session with Andrew Booth. Good stuff in that it confirm that in the past I've covered the Pubmed bases. Highlight for me is the stuff beyond the pubmed session.

Reminder of SUMSearch. New stuff though with

• NLM Gateway which included the Meeting Abstracts collection
• The patient focussed Medline Plus
• Interact with its graphical interface
• Ask Medline an Ask Jeeves like tool that attempts to make sense of a sentence based query
• ReleMed which uses contextual searching to improve precision
• Pubmed Informer as a CAS tool

Naturally I start thinking segments that will find these tools valuable and how we use the as content for marketing our services.

Good to see people. Downside is that Helen brings news of FoI issues. Make a few calls and some sort of beginning of headway. Need to ring Chris D. tomorrow at 11.00 and nip to see Diane H. at 10.00.

Begin the catch up with the holiday blogging.

Footsteps

The river was rough, the wind was roaring and the roads all led away from Reggie today. Some quick FoI work, a section 21 and chasing up somebody else and the usual MP type request. tPCT have a bunch of orange crates delivered, they're on the move out of Reggie.

Update my marketing data and begin preparing for the next set of it. By and large the plan is to hit the AHPs first and then move through the segments.

Morning medline sesh with Helen and Nicola, hope it was OK for them. PM VLE stuff, not particularly focussed and my mind is elsewhere - stoopid bugger.

Oh dear I'm falling towards family history....need to watch that one. Still could be worse.....

Ground Floor Milk Club Christmas Nibbles

So the evening is spent sorting the kitchen floor, adding labels to the latest 100 posts of this place.

Jolly japes, sausage rolls etc in the library today. WFAS come over, we invite ESAT but they hide, Andy from IT, Michelle and Sharon from Clinical Governance come down. It's a pleasant way to spend some time. Nibbles in the library.

Serious shit come in the way of legal work from Iqbal, an FoI conversation and chaing up pledges of dosh for e-journals.

New Boots and Panties..... and Blogger

Transfer to the new version of Blogger today. Unsurprisingly with just under 4,500 posts, it takes a little while to complete. Mightily relieved when it does though.

A day that begins badly because poor Callum is sick. General winter bug going around, vomit one end, diarrhoea the other. I head to work before it gets too hairy. Sort news before I go and change plan, instead of the Land of Manc I head to Reggie.

Complete some searches, deal with some FoI issues.

Call to head home at lunch time to bring chicken soup. Follows a conversation about the Liverpool Cheese Company so is an excuse to bring back cheese to work. Tracy has the crisp bread, I fetch in a few grapes. Cheese choice is Baltic a Northumbrian cheese washed in Summer Beer from the Baltic Fleet just down the road from Reggie, and some Danbo Carraway. A library munch then. Typically Gareth arrives in time for a sliver of the Baltic!

Home via the curry house because Cal has thrown post soup and is therefore avoiding food, all the more for Monst and myself.

Gonna Send My Soul to Jesus With a Song By Johnny Cash

Sexual Health, Religion and Ethnicity, always a heady mix for a lit search, you have the pruruient delight of considering the sensible and downright daft and everything in between within different ethical cultures. Throw into the mix its for someone I like and it's a nice bit of light relief on a Wednesday afternoon that has proved problematic to say the least. So the problems in no particular order are:

Fucking librarians - although not in relation to the lit search above, in relation to them upsetting Tracy

Fluoridation

IT (the devices not the department)

Fucking librarians - I'm still upset with them and they've not upset me

Throw into the mix that ostrich like I refuse to look into something that hasn't happened yet but begin to gear up for it in case it does (a clear case of 'Sometimes you remember, sometimes you forget, it doesn't matter much, it hasn't happened yet' if ever I've had one)

Delights of Team Brief today, Rachel and Nicola visit for it. They add to the fun. Helen has her first period of protracted time with us. Hope it was OK.

Lemmy's Mum was a Librarian

Voicemail tag - I get some voicemail from someone, I call them and leave voicemail, they call me and leave voicemail so I leave voicemail in return. Would I give anything for the voicemail system to have the conversation and then let us know what the hell it had decided.... it'd be so much simpler! Delve into the BMA site guided ably by someone from the library looking for resolutions from their Annual Representative Meeting, so much easier when you're told where they live! Once you find it though what simple thing to search.

FoI stuff happens, couple of searches happen. Odd nurse practitioner search, I keep it extremely tight, first time I've had a search result that only returns full text without me specifying it. OK it was only four articles but I sent them along with the search to the user. Freaky!

Assimilation happens which provides me with ample excuse to call Sally and Christina. Good to talk to them both.

Sort the Christmas goose, pick it up on the 23^rd. Congratulating myself on sorting that I then hit a problem on returning home, I have a puncture. Now the Touran fails to supply a spare, instead there is a bottle of gunk and a compressor. So risking life and limb and squatting inches from the traffic I fill the tyre with the gunk and use the compressor. The compressor should work in 6 minutes, it' don't. Luckily I'm close to home. Call the RAC (my membership has lapsed and is renewed, sort it so I get a tow in the morning to the nearest Kwic Fit). Deep joy, I'm gonna be late at Arrowe, need to call them first thing to warn them.